Senate Votes to Give Residency to Widow

In its final action before adjourning for the year, the U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation Wednesday to grant permanent resident status to South Korean immigrant Jasmin Salehi, who faced deportation after her husband was slain two years ago.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), is expected to be signed by President Clinton in the next few days.

“I’m really happy that the Congress passed the bill and that I don’t have to face deportation,” Salehi said in a telephone interview.

Although the favorable vote settled the immigration matter, Salehi said she must still cope with the emotional pain of a husband gone too soon.

“No one can imagine losing someone by violence, and on top of it, having to go through deportation,” Salehi said.

Salehi, whose given name is Mai Hoa Joo, met her husband, Cyrus Salehi, at a downtown Denny’s restaurant in 1993. The Seoul resident was in Los Angeles to visit her sister.

She and her sister went to a restaurant where Jasmin met Iran-born Salehi, who became a naturalized citizen in 1995.

The couple married on March 20, 1995 in Las Vegas.

In the early morning of Feb. 3, 1996, a 20-year-old gang member walked into a Denny’s in Reseda, where Cyrus Salehi worked, and demanded money. Salehi handed over $400 from the cash register, then the gunman shot him.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service requires legal immigrants, like Jasmin Salehi, to be married for two years before they are eligible for permanent resident status. She had been married for 11 months at the time her husband was killed.